EXCLUSIVE: Pennant Speaks Out On England Snub and His Favourite Relationship In Football
Former Liverpool and Arsenal Star On England Snub and Favourite Teammates
Former Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant had one of the more colourful football careers of the 2000’s and 2010’s. His journey saw him play in a Champions League final, take to the pitch for 15 clubs across four countries, and earn 21 England youth caps as one of the country’s brightest young stars in the early days of his career.
He became the country’s record youth signing when Arsenal brought him in for £2 million back in 1999, scored a hat trick on his league debut for the club, and when he was eventually sold in 2006, it was for four times the original fee as he joined up with Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool. He was even pursued by Real Madrid for a period, but a move was never given the green light.
"Really!? 😲" - Jermaine Pennant spoke about the time Real Madrid tried to sign him in 2008.
— Soccer AM (@SoccerAM) January 17, 2020
What would your reaction be? pic.twitter.com/QQQoLZz7bK
For all intents and purposes, Pennant looked set to be the next in a long line of players to don the England shirt for the senior team; however, a call-up to the national set-up just never materialised, though it wasn’t for a lack of trying.
So, in an interview courtesy of NetBet Casino, we got the toughts of Pennant himself as to why he was continually passed over for national duty?
Taking the Mick-Claren
Questions really started to surface when Pennant was left out of the England squad for the September 2007 fixtures, just three months after the winger had started for Liverpool in the Champions League final against AC Milan, a game which the Reds would lose 2-1.
Pennant played the full 90 minutes, and contributed to Dirk Kuyt’s late consolation as his corner was flicked on to the Dutchman by Daniel Agger, and yet international attention still evaded him. Even Pennant himself described the consistent ignorance of his form as “frustrating”, and though 20 years later that frustration has waned, it is still there.
Asked on whether he believed he merited an England cap during the height of his career at Liverpool, Pennant responded, “That’s the one thing that bothered me throughout my career.”
“Starting and getting to the Champions League final, as an Englishman, you’re getting in there for a reason. You’re playing in there for a reason. You’re starting there for a reason, because you’re the best player in your team at that position in that period, and you’re in the Champions League final.”
“The fact that I wasn’t even named in a 26-man squad for a friendly or anything throughout that period, I just thought, ‘what more does one have to do?’”
However, Pennant also recognises some off-field run-ins, including being charged with driving under the influence twice in 2004 and 2005, the latter of which saw him handed a 90 day prison sentence, though he was released on parole after one month.
“I guess a lot of off-the-field antics throughout my career hampered that, which was frowned upon with some people”. However, he was far from the only player to have made headlines for the wrong reasons.
John Terry maintained his place in the England side despite allegations of an affair with former teammate Wayne Bridge, although he was stripped of the captaincy for a year, Frank Lampard remained in the team despite the reported abuse of American tourists at an airport just 24 hours after the 9/11 attacks, and Ashley Cole was still called up despite bringing an air rifle to Chelsea training, shooting an injuring a young staff member there on work experience in the process.
Jermaine Pennant is the only English player to play in a Champions League Final (2007) and never earn a senior cap for England https://t.co/9vpi7GKrQY
— Harrison Taylor 🇺🇦 (@Harrison_write) November 19, 2020
Though none of these occurred while Pennant was considered as a genuine England candidate, it is certainly interesting to see the difference in treatment between the Nottingham-born winger and the rest of his compatriots.
Pennant, now having put his international disappointment behind him, was philosophical on the points, saying, “I’m just the unlucky one that they took all those things into consideration more with me than others.”
Football Friends
Pennant’s occasional misgivings didn’t prevent him from forging meaningful relationships throughout his career - with such a breadth of experience and range of clubs, it was inevitable that he would end his career with a huge number of fellow players that he considered friends, either for their relationship on the field or off it.
Asked about which player he had the best on-field chemistry with, Pennant didn’t hesitate: “On-field chemistry would have been Peter Crouch - I’ve played with him so many times at so many different clubs - Liverpool, Stoke City and Portsmouth. We used to have a good laugh, on and off the pitch.”
🗓️ Fulham 0-2 Liverpool - 19th April 2008
— The Anfield Wrap (@TheAnfieldWrap) April 19, 2024
Jermaine Pennant 17'
Peter Crouch 70' pic.twitter.com/V21SA1V8Vk
Taking to the pitch for three separate clubs together, Crouch and Pennant accrued more than five seasons of experience in the same squad, which meant their on-field chemistry, knowledge of each other's movements, and understanding of their respective games resulted in a superb on-field connection.
Off the pitch, it seems that also got on, but one of Pennant’s best mates was one made all the way back in his childhood with former Tottenham, Newcastle and England midfielder Jermaine Jenas.
“The one that I’ve been closest with, and we’ve played through every single level from when we were seven, all the way through the England ranks, was Jermaine Jenas.”
With the pair separated by just one month of age difference, and playing alongside each other for a huge portion of their early careers, it seemed inevitable that Pennant and Jenas would become friends, while their respective positions also meant that they were directly involved with each other on the pitch, often in neighbouring positions.
Joe Ryan 
